


Five Ghosts

by LeBibish



Category: ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Gen, bring your own slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 08:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2805989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeBibish/pseuds/LeBibish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Norman isn’t sure if he’s ready for college, but he’s happy Neil is right beside him all the way. Salem State is going to be awesome! But there are always bumps in the road on the way to growing up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. August: Freshman Orientation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaci3PO](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaci3PO/gifts).



> Disclaimer: ParaNorman is a really sweet (zombie!) movie and I wish I could do it half the justice it deserves.
> 
> kaci3PO, I hope you have some fun with this. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

“Did you two losers have to put off freshman orientation until the last possible second? Really?” Courtney’s little car zipped through the freeway traffic, narrowly passing several large trucks.

Neil leaned his elbows against the front seats and grinned at her through the rear view mirror. “Well yeah, if we had done a June session we would have spent all summer thinking about this stuff. We had to optimize our last summer of being teenagers!”

Norman tried not to laugh. It would just antagonize Courtney and it was actually pretty nice of her to take time off of work to drive them up. Sometimes she was a really good big sister, even if she complained the whole way.

Courtney slammed her brakes to avoid rear-ending a van before veering sideways and hitting the gas hard in the passing lane. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Neil through the rear-view mirror. “Ugh. Why do I always get stuck babysitting you two?”

Norman sank down into his seat and fiddled with the handle of his backpack. It was better not to watch the road while Courtney was driving. Actually, it was better for him not to watch the road anyways—there were way too many ghosts on the freeway.

Neil held out his hand through the gap in the seats and used his fingers to count out reasons why Courtney was stuck with them. “One, your dad is driving up next week to move us in and doesn’t want to make the trip twice. Two, Mitch refuses to let me in his car at all since the chips and dip incident. Salma’s already at UMass—she texted me three times about her women’s studies course there this morning. Ummm…oh, Mitch and Jay are broken up again so he’s not doing us any favors. Mom won’t buy me a car unless I manage to pass my first year of classes and Norman still doesn’t have his license.”

“I don’t need the whole list, dork. I just thought, with you being adults and all, that maybe I would finally be able to concentrate on me and not have to do stupid things like drive you to Salem.”

Neil glanced up at the road again, a flash of color attracting his attention. The S.U.V. in front of them was green, faded and hard to see in the bright sunlight. Courtney sped up.

Norman bit down on his instinctive yelp as they hit the back of the SUV—and passed through it. He squeezed his eyes shut and sank down lower into his seat.

Courtney sighed, a long put-upon gust of breath.


	2. September: Moving In

“Alright son, now which one is your room?” Perry was sweating and red-faced as he carried three boxes at once up the stairs.

Norman hugged the box with his zombie alarm clock, pillow, shoes and whatever other junk had fit. He glanced at the paper taped to the top of it. “Um, 206?”

They turned right at the top of the stairs and were almost bowled over by Neil, who was running back down to the car. “Hey, Norman. Hey, Mr. Babcock. Thanks for driving me up, Mitch still doesn’t want to let me in his car. Plus Jay’s coming up with him so there’s barely room for my stuff. Isn’t this place cool? I already found my room! It’s way down the hall! Where’s yours? I wish we were rooming together. Oh hey, I’m going to wait at the car a bit so Mrs. B. can come and see your room! I’ll be back.”

Norman grinned as Neil ran down the stairs. It was always fun seeing him so excited. Perry was grumbling to himself. He stopped in front of the door to room 206 and turned to Norman. “You know, it’s actually a good thing you two aren’t in the same room. Think of this as an opportunity. You can make some new friends. Maybe a girlfriend, finally.” Norman rolled his eyes and opened the door to his room. Perry kept talking. “That’s what college is all about. New friends, new people. Nice, normal, new people.” He heaved the boxes into the nearly empty room. Norman wondered what his roommate would be like.

“Neil’s normal, Dad. He was on the hockey team. You liked going to his games, remember?”

“Right, right. Good hockey player. I’m not saying anything against Neil. You know I’m not intolerant or anything. But with that brother of his…well, he’s always been a little weird, you know. I’m not saying anything against him! Just that college is an opportunity. An opportunity to make new friends. A girlfriend, for example.”

Norman’s shoulders hunched involuntarily as he glared at his shoe laces. “Neil’s my friend, Dad. And Mitch is a great big brother.”

“Look, Norman, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with them. I’m just saying that you need to put some effort into meeting new people. That’s what you’re here for!”

“Oh honey, this is so nice!” Sandra Babcock glided into the room, smiling sunnily. “We’re so proud of you. Salem State is a great college. I’m sure you are going to be so happy here.”

Perry grumbled again. “Hmph. Salem. I thought you would have had enough with witches at home! Why couldn’t you go to UMass like that girl…the Indian girl with the brow? There’s a smart kid!” Sandra glared at him and made a little gesture with her hand as if to remind him of something. He glanced around furtively, then stuck his head out the door and checked the hallway. He turned back to Norman and lowered his voice. “Look, I’m sure there’s lots of, you know, those…people around…”

“You mean ghosts, Dad?”

“Right, yeah. Those. Look, I know there’s no way for you not to see them and it’s good, really. You did a lot of really good things back home. You helped people.” He closed his eyes and breathed out noisily. “You know I’m proud of you, right?”

Norman nodded. His dad had made a point of saying that every once in a while, every time his mom glared like that. He was pretty sure it was true too.

“Right, so. I know you’re going to keep doing that here. You’re going to do good things. But Salem isn’t Blithe Hollow. People got used to you back home and…” He trailed off, embarrassed. Not much could keep Perry Babcock from talking, but he had never been comfortable with this topic, even after he started talking to his mom again—Norman’s grandmother--with Norman as a ghost-living person intermediary.

Norman let him off the hook. “I know. Don’t talk to ghosts in front of people. Don’t talk about ghosts to people. I don’t want to scare people off. I’ll be alright, Dad.”

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Perry scratched his neck, staring around as if looking for something else to talk about. Sandra focused on beginning to unpack the top box in the pile. Out in the hallway, Norman saw a girl drift past his room. Her feet weren’t touching the floor and there was a rope trailing down her back. He turned his head towards the window.

Loud footsteps pounded up the stairs and through the hall. Neil stopped in the doorway, almost completely filling the space. He had grown into a big man, taller and stouter than his older brother, although a great deal of his solidness was muscle now. His childhood asthma had resolved itself and his family’s sports obsession had given him a strong base for body building. He grinned as he entered the room, ignoring the air of tension.

Neil threw his arm around Norman’s shoulder, a heavy, comforting weight. “Hey, buddy. Mitch showed up with my stuff. He parked right by your car, isn’t it lucky there was an extra space? He and Jay are going to hang out down there like guard dogs. So I can show off my new room! Come on!” He manhandled Norman out into the hallway, winking at Sandra as they went.

-

Norman’s roommate showed up to school a day late. He glanced at Norman’s zombie movie posters, his Zombie slippers, his sheets covered in ghosts and the line of books on the shelf about haunted places on the east coast. He requested a room change but didn’t get it.

Neil’s roommate was a comic book enthusiast. He shared all of his comics with Neil as soon as they came out, helped him hide the electric popcorn maker Neil had smuggled in, and could spend hours talking about DC vs Marvel. Norman was a little worried that if he ever found out Norman could talk to ghosts, he’d immediately set out to become his side-kick. With a costume and everything.

-

It took a few weeks for Norman to convince the girl in the hallway to talk to him. She was a bit shy, and after she startled the first time Norman said hello, she started hiding when she saw him. But then she would follow him around, drifting in the corner of his eye.

Norman made sure to stay really friendly, although he did his best not to let other people notice. He smiled at her and never tried to say more than a quiet “Hi.”

Until she finally approached him.

Her name was Mary. She had a pretty wicked sense of humor and liked playing pranks on the other residents of the dorm. After a while, Norman figured out why certain people were targeted more—she always played a prank on someone right after they said or did something nasty to someone else.

Mary was particularly protective of a short girl from the third floor who was super-shy and didn’t seem to have any friends. Norman wondered if he should try and be her friend, but she seemed almost terrified of men and every time he tried to say hello, she eeped and stared at the floor until he went away.

He left some cookies outside her door with a “Good Luck” note taped to the box.

Mary was a lot friendlier to him after that. She spent most of her time in the hallways, and Norman just smiled or exchanged nods as she drifted past him—it turns out a lot of people kept their doors open and there was almost always someone in the hall going towards a bathroom or down to the laundry room. Mary started to come visit him in his room. Norman always kept the door closed and they would talk and joke around. She was fun.

Norman’s roommate walked in on them hanging out a couple of times.

He requested a room change again at the end of the month. He got one this time.

Norman didn’t get another roommate.


	3. October:  Halloween

Norman smiled and waved at Tommy who was sitting on one of the catwalks above the stage. Tommy grinned and waved back before pointing to the door to the back stage area. He was pretty good at keeping track of where everyone was in the theater and he knew Norman was probably looking for Neil. Norman mouthed “Thank you” before heading back.

A woman was marching down the narrow hallway with a box of tools—he was pretty sure she was an upperclassmen drama major. He’d seen her coaching Neil on his lines. Norman flattened himself against the wall to let her pass, staring at the ground nervously.

“Hey, you’re Neil’s friend, right?”

Norman glanced up at her, then away again. “Yeah.”

“I see you in the seats watching rehearsal sometimes. And Neil talks about you a lot! But we’ve never actually met. I’m Meredith.” Her smile was friendly but Norman thought her eyes were a little wary.

“Norman.” Norman mumbled.

“Right. Neil’s really excited about you coming out with us tonight.” She shuffled the box of tools from one hand to the other. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. No one does Halloween like theater geeks!”

“Yeah.”

Tommy appeared at the end of the hall. The lights flickered a bit. Meredith squinted up at them. “Well, I’ve got to get going. Working on the set for next week. See you tonight, Norman.”

“Uh-huh.” Norman smiled at Tommy as Meredith walked past him.

Norman found Neil in one of the small dressing rooms, trying on a gladiator costume. He had thought the skirt bit would look funny—but Neil actually looked kind of…imposing. A warrior, ready to do battle. Then Neil grinned at Norman in the mirror and he looked like a teenager again. A big teenager wearing a really heavy costume.

“Hey, Norman! Don’t I look cool?”

Norman was pretty sure he nodded, feeling weirdly shy.

“I’ve got one for you too.”

Norman tensed. Neil noticed.

“Look I know you always go as a zombie. It’s cool. I thought: zombie gladiators. We’ll match! Trish said we can borrow them as long as we don’t dent them or anything and Terry has a ton of fake blood and scars and stuff that looks real but is totally washable. It’s going to be amazing.” For a big guy, Neil did pretty good ‘puppy eyes’.

Norman rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Yeah, umm, that’s really cool.”

“But?” Neil was pretty good at reading people and 7 years of being Norman’s best (and sometimes only) friend had given him a huge advantage. Although, Norman was really being pretty obvious.

“But I don’t think I should go with you tonight. I mean, I’m not going to go. But you should go. Have fun.” Norman turned around and tried to walk out the door, but Neil grabbed him and pulled him back.

“What’s going on, Norman? Of course you should come. It’s going to be lots of fun. And everyone really wants to meet you.” Neil kept his hand wrapped around Norman’s wrist, as if afraid he was going to start running.

Norman shrugged. “Yeah, sorry. I, ummm, have this other thing that came up. I need to go do that.”

Neil blinked. “Like a…ghost thing.” Neil lowered his voice for the last bit, but Norman still winced. The door was open and people were all around in the theater. Neil had never managed to grasp being subtle.

“Yeah, one of those things. So I’ll go do that and you can go out with your friends.”

“No way! I’m going with you.” Neil let go of Norman and started towards his bag.

“I’m better off doing this on my own, Neil.”

“Wow, déjà vu. The last time I left you ‘on your own’, zombies tried to eat us!”

“They didn’t try to eat us, Neil. They helped me find Aggie and save the town.” Norman was really tired of this argument. It seemed to come up a lot with different people. Why was he the only one who remembered how it actually happened?

“Right, right. Still. Zombies! And my brother’s van was totaled and the whole town turned into a vicious mob and I almost got burned alive. I am definitely coming with you.”

“That was seven years ago, Neil. I can handle this on my own now. I’ve handled lots of things since then and no one has gotten eaten or burned alive.”

“Yeah and in seven years I haven’t let you ‘handle it on your own’ again. So I’m coming with you. Maybe we can get done early and meet everyone at the party later. Or not and I can introduce you to them next week.”

“No! You go hang out with your friends and I’ll hang out with mine!” Norman’s yell echoed in the tiny dressing room and down the hall like a clash of thunder. It was followed by silence and then the bustling noise of people trying to pretend they hadn’t heard anything.

Neil looked lost. “But you’re my friend, Norman.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got to go.” This time Norman really did start running.

-

He ended up circling back to the theater eventually. If Neil was looking for him, the theater wouldn’t be the place. And if he wasn’t…

Well, maybe Neil had gone to the party then. Hopefully, Norman meant. Hopefully he hadn’t completely ruined Neil’s night and he was off with all his new friends having a lot of fun and not thinking about Norman at all. Norman was pretty sure that’s what he wanted. For Neil, that is.

The theater was a nice place to be. Tommy didn’t really talk. He mostly hung out trying to keep people from falling off stuff. So when Norman was the only one there, sitting on the edge of the catwalk, Tommy was pretty happy to sit there silently and just keep Norman company.

It was a quiet Halloween.


	4. November: Thanksgiving

Every year since middle school, the Babcocks had invited the Downes over for Thanksgiving. Sometimes it was just Neil, sometimes Mitch (and Jay, if they weren’t fighting) joined. On rare occasions it was the whole family; the Downes traveled a lot.

Perry always complained a bit beforehand and grumbled a bit during the day. Sandra always stressed over the turkey and then said how nice it was to have friends and family together for the holidays. Courtney always spent half the day on her phone and, if Jay came, the other half poking fun at the people at the parade on TV. She said it wasn’t as fun without Jay and if he didn’t come she tended to go back to her phone. Norman and Neil always hung out in Norman’s room. Neil got along really well with Norman’s grandmother, although he needed Norman to tell him what she said since he couldn’t talk to ghosts himself.

It was all pretty much tradition at this point.

Except this year, Neil was hanging out on the couch watching the game with Perry and Norman was hiding in the kitchen, pretending to help his mom, but mostly just getting in the way. His grandmother was sitting in one of the kitchen tables, watching him worriedly.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah Grandma, everything is fine.”

Everyone was pretty used to hearing Norman talk to his grandmother, even though they could only hear one side of the conversation.

“Are you sure? You seem pretty down.”

“I’m fine, Grandma.”

Courtney shoved her cell phone into her pocket and stared at Norman. Then she peered into the living room where Neil was slumped on the couch, shoving chips into his mouth while Perry yelled at the T.V.

Courtney shook her head and, grabbing Norman by his ear, dragged him upstairs to his room. She pushed him onto the bed and then sat down in his desk chair, her hands in her pockets.

“What is going on, Norman?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“With Neil.” Courtney stared at him as if the power of her glare alone would be enough to compel him to speak.

It sort of was.

“It’s not a big deal. People change and…”

Courtney’s glare got meaner. Norman wasn’t sure how; it hadn’t seemed possible.

“Look, it’s just…after what happened…well, everyone here knew what I could do. And everyone knew Neil was my friend. All of high school it was ‘There’s Neil, he’s the friend of that kid who speaks to ghosts.’ And no one else really hung out with us. Except Salma, but she was really busy with school and then she got that scholarship to study abroad. We were still the two freaks.”

“But everyone knew it’s real.” Courtney said, puzzled. “No one made fun of you. No one wanted zombies to eat their faces.”

“Exactly! First everyone thought I was a crazy freak and laughed at me and laughed at Neil. Because he was an outcast too. But then people knew it was real and some of them were nice to me, but some of them just thought I was a scary freak. And Neil joined hockey and started being cooler but no one else wanted to hang out with him anyways because they all knew he was my friend.” Norman stared at the floor, trying not to cry. “But at college no one knows any of that. This is his chance to be normal, Courtney.”

“He splits his time between hockey jocks and drama nerds. And I’m pretty sure he’s actually gayer than his brother, which shouldn’t even be possible. He is wearing a sweater with a kitten playing with ribbon on it because that is something that was actually in his closet. By choice. Neil is _not_ _normal_.” Her face softened. “And I don’t think he wants to be either. “

“He’s not your kind of normal. But lots of other people at college are like him. No one is like me.”

“Norman…”

“I talk to ghosts! I like talking to ghosts! I’m not going to stop or spend my whole life trying to hide it. But that means I’m always going to be a freak and I’m not going to drag Neil down with me!”

“Don’t you think he should get to decide that?”

“Yeah Norman, don’t you think I should get to decide that?” Norman’s head jerked to the side and he gaped at Neil, who was leaning in the door frame.

“Neil! What, where, when…”

“Courtney texted me a couple of minutes ago. You know, she’s really good at doing that without looking at the screen.”

Courtney pulled her cellphone out of the pocket of her jacket and waved it at Norman, smirking.


	5. December: Post-Finals

“You know, Neil makes a pretty good Ghost of Christmas Present.” Salma had finished finals early and came to Salem specifically to see Neil’s first ‘college performance.’ She said it was nice to have a break from only talking to physics and gender studies students.

“Yeah, Neil was pretty excited that they were willing to cast a freshman for the part.” Norman smiled at her. Salma had always been more of Neil’s friend than his, but he appreciated how much she supported Neil. She had gotten him through high school basically, since the school hadn’t done much to help with his dyslexia.

“I suppose you’ve had some more adventures over the fall? You haven’t called asking for research help so I wasn’t sure.” Salma hadn’t hung out with them much—she spent most of her afterschool time studying. Neil said he got enough of that during school and he and Salma seemed okay with meeting once a week for a movie marathon. She and Norman and Neil ended up watching a lot of ‘classic’ films and not the B-movie horror classics Norman liked. Still, she had been pretty helpful on most of the adventures they had. She got cranky if they called her for information and didn’t take her with them, so they started offering her a chance to come ahead of time.

“Actually, it’s pretty quiet here. Everyone is really nice; I mean, some people are kind of depressed, but no one seems really angry.” He had been worried about going to Salem—but it was the only college that he and Neil had both gotten into (and been able to afford).

“Well, I suppose since most of those poor women weren’t really witches, they didn’t hang around like you know who.” Salma sniffed angrily. Norman really didn’t want to start that conversation. Plus, he actually hadn’t seen any of the woman who had been accused of witchcraft around campus. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in town though.

“I guess. You know, thanks for telling me to take a psych course. The intro class was really fun.” A quick subject change might work, Norman hoped.

“Well, with all the practice you’ve had, you should be a great counselor.” Salma kept her head turned towards the stage, but darted her eyes to the side to watch Norman. “Of course, that depends on you getting your own head on straight.”

Norman ducked his head. “Neil told you.”

“No. Neil just turned into a lost little puppy every time I talked to him for over a month. You’re the only one who does that to him.”

“Sorry.”

“Well. Just promise to take better care of him. You need him, you know.”

“I do. I will.”

“Good.”

\--

After the play, Neil came bouncing up to the two of them, still in his costume as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

“Norman! Salma! Wasn’t it awesome?”

“Yeah. You were really cool!” Norman smiled at Neil, who was basically bouncing in place like an overexcited dog waiting to be taken out for a walk.

“Yes, Neil. You did an excellent job. The class issues in the traditional play—Scrooge as the upper class oppressor and Tiny Tim and his family as the downtrodden but morally superior poor—are certainly ones we should still be thinking about.”

“I’m glad you came, Salma.” Neil calmed down, a bit. “Hey, you two should come to the after-party with me! The whole cast is going to stay in costume and it’s going to be a lot of fun.” He turned towards Norman hopefully.

Norman thought about saying no. Neil’s theater friends still really intimidated him. The moment stretched out in silence and he saw Salma’s eyes beginning to narrow. Then he suddenly thought of his dorm’s resident ghost Mary, smiling at the still shy girl who had come into the kitchen and quietly helped him make cookies to leave in the common room. He still didn’t know her name, but they had spent an entire afternoon making Christmas cookies for the whole dorm, and she had waved goodbye to him when she left for break.

Norman smiled again, and, for once, wrapped his arm around Neil before Neil could. “Yeah, it’ll be fun. Let’s go!”

The three of them headed off together, chatting and laughing.

A thin, nearly transparent figure, wearing clothes rather like Neil’s, pumped a fist in the air, before fading out.


End file.
